CHEMISTRY IN EVERYDAY LIFE

DRUGS AND ALCOHOLS: WHAT IS DRUG??

Any substance, other than food, used in the prevention, diagnosis, all aviation or treatment of a disease is called a drug. A drug may also be defined as a chemical which, when taken in some way alter the body function. Drug is also known as a medicine. Generally, the term drug is applied to any stimulating or depressing substance that can be habituating or addictive.

MEANING OF ADDICTION:

Addiction is the habitual, psychological and physiological dependence on a substance or practice which is beyond voluntary control. A person who is habituated to a substance or a practice, especially a harmful one, is called an addict.

TYPE OF DRUGS EXAMPLES EFFECTS

1. Sedatives and Tranquillizers

Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines

Depress CNS activity give feeling of calmness, relaxation, drowsiness.

2. Opiate Narcotics Opium, morphine, codeine, heroin

Suppress brain activity,Relaxed pain.

3.Stimulants Amphetamines, Caffeine, cocaine

Make a person more wakeful, alert and active, cause excitement.

4.Hallucinogens LSQ, Mescalin, psilocybin, Ganja, chares, Hashish

Alter thoughts, feeling and perceptions.

CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS:

STRUCTURES OF SOME MENTIONED DRUGS:

MORPHINE CODEINE

Opiate Narcotics:

HEROIN

Sedatives and Tranquillizers:

Barbiturates Bbenzodiazepines

Stimulants :

CAFFEINE COCAINE

Hallucinogens:

MESCALIN PSILOCYBIN

COMBINATION OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOLS:

Some addicts use mixtures of drugs to have immediate ‘kick’ or ‘charge’. Simultaneous use of drug and alcohol may produce dangerous effects, including death. When barbiturates and alcohol are taken together, each doubles the effect of the other. A mixture of cocaine and heroin called speed ball, gives spontaneous kick of cocaine and prolonged pleasure of heroin.

Combination Effect

1. Alcohol + Barbiturates. Markedly increased depressant effect.

2. Alcohol + Antihistamines. Marked drowsiness.

3. Alcohol + Valium. Dramatically increases sedative effect.

4. Alcohol + Marijuana or Hashish. Decreased coordination increased reaction time impaired judgment.

5. Alcohol + Aspirin. Increased changes of damage to gastric mucosa.

SOCIAL DISEASE - SMOKING, DRINKING AND USE OF DRUGS:

Smoking and drinking and use of drugs frequently or regularly are social diseases. They adversely affect the health of the addicts and the society. Young people take to these habits for fun, show off or curiosity, as an adventure or feeling of freedom, or as a gesture of defiance against the elders who themselves indulge in these activities but check the youngsters. Other factors that make people take to these vices are inability to face problems of life indifference shown by members of the family, and encouragement or pressure by friends.

Temporary escape from the life problems and mental relaxation felt on taking the drugs in the beginning increase person’s interest in them. Soon they become habitual and find it difficult to leave. The daily dose to get the desired effect increases with time.

As in other countries, the menace of drug addiction is spreading in India also. A large number of our young men and women have taken to intoxicants. About 87.6% drug addicts are between the ages of 14 and 25 years.

TOBACCO:

Sources: It is a native of South Africa, where the

Red Indians first started smoking. Now the tobacco plant has spread the world over. It has large, quote to lanceloate leaves and terminal clusters of tubular, white or pink flowers.

Effect of Nicotine:• (i) Stimulates conduction of nerve impulses.

• (ii) Relaxes the muscles.

• (iii) Releases adrenaline, increasing heart beat rate and pressure.

• (iv) Increased blood pressure due to smoking chances the risk of heart diseases.

• (v) Retards fetus growth in expecting mothers.

• (vi) High concentration of nicotine paralyses nerve cells.

ALCOHOL: Sources: Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, flammable, colorless liquid

having a penetrating odor and burning taste. It is one of the products of the distillation of fermented grains, fruit juices and starches with the help of yeast enzymes. It is the principal constituent and the intoxicating principle of wines.

Modes of Use: Alcohol is taken in low concentration, as the beer, toddy

and wine and in relatively high concentration as arrack, brandy, whisky, rum, gin, vodka etc.

Addiction:

Addiction to alcohol is called alcoholism. Alcoholics are found in all sections of society. Alcohol causes intoxication and thus, acts as a poison. The drinkers begin with small doses, but many of them soon start consuming large doses and become addicts. By the time they realize that drinking is adversely affecting them; it is too late to give it up.

What Happens when Alcohol gets in stomach:

Alcohol is quickly absorbed in the stomach and upper part of small intestine and reaches all the tissues in minutes. Its oxidation starts at once and a large amount of heat is produced. Since heat is not needed in the body, it is taken up by the blood and carried to the skin for dissipation. Since the receptors of heat are located in the skin, the rush of blood to the skin gives a false impression of warmth in the body. The blood supply of internal organs is greatly reduced resulting in fall of temperature in them. Energy released by alcohol is not used in any life process. Rather the energy derived from food is used up in ridding the body of excess heat.

SOAPS AND DETERGENTS : SOAPS: Soaps are the sodium and potassium salts of

the long chain carboxylic acid. A soap molecule consists of a long hydrocarbon chain (composed of carbons and hydrogen) with a carboxylic acid on one end which is ionic bonded to metal ion usually a sodium or potassium.

A soap has a large non-ionic hydrocarbon group and an ionic group COO-Na+.

EXAMPLES OF SOAPS:• Sodium stearate (Chemical formula: C17H35COO-Na+)• Sodium palmitate (Chemical formula: C15H31COO-Na+)• Sodium oleate (Chemical formula: C17H33COO-Na+)

Saponification:

The process of making soap by the hydrolysis of fats and oils with alkalies is called saponification.

Soap is made by heating animal fats or vegetable oil with concentrated sodium hydroxide (NAOH).

Fat or Oil + NaOH → Soap + Glycerol

MICELLES – SOAP MOLECULES: A soap molecule has two ends

with different properties:

• (i) A long hydrocarbon part which is hydrophobic (i.e. it dissolves in hydrocarbon).

• ii) A short ionic part containing COO-Na+ which is hydrophilic (i.e. it dissolves in water).

WORKING OF MICELLES:

MECHANISM OF SOAPS

When a dirty cloth is put in water containing soap then the hydrocarbon ends of the soap molecule in the micelle attach to the oil or grease particles present on the surface of dirty cloth. In this way the soap micelles entraps the oily particles by using the hydrocarbon ends. The ionic ends of the soap molecules remain attached to the water when the dirty cloth is agitated in soap solution. The oily particles present on its surface gets dispersed in the water due to which the cloth gets clean.

Advantages:

• Soaps are eco-friendly and bio degradable.

Disadvantages:

• Soaps are not suitable in the hard water.

• They have weak cleansing properties than detergents.

DETERGENTS:• Detergents are the sodium salts of long chain

benzene sulphuric acids.

• Detergents are primarily surfactants, which could be produced easily from petrochemicals. Surfactants lower the surface tension of water, essentially making it 'wetter' so that it is less likely to stick to itself and more likely to interact with oil and grease.

• The ionic group is in a detergent is so3- Na+

EXAMPLES OF DETERGENTS: Two basic examples of well-known

detergents of the sulphonate group or the sulphate group  are:

CLEANSING ACTION OF DETERGENTS:

Synthetic detergents have the same type of molecular structure as soaps i.e. a tadpole like molecule having two parts at each end i.e., one large non-polar hydrocarbon group that is water repelling (hydrophobic) and one short ionic group usually containing the  or   group that is water attracting (hydrophilic). Thus the cleansing action is exactly similar to that of soaps whereby the formation of micelles followed by emulsification occurs. However, synthetic detergents can lather well even in hard water. This is because they are soluble sodium or potassium salts of sulphonic acid or alkyl hydrogen sulphate and similarly form soluble calcium or magnesium salts on reacting with the calcium ions or magnesium ions present in water. This is a major advantage of the cleansing property of detergents over soap.

ADVANTAGES OF DETERGENTS:

• Since detergents are the salts of strong acids they do not decompose in acidic medium. Thus detergents can effectively clean fabric even if the water is acidic.

• Synthetic detergents are more soluble in water than soaps.

• They have a stronger cleansing action than soaps.

• As detergents are derived from petroleum they save on natural vegetable oils, which are important as essential cooking medium.

DISADVANTAGES Of DETERGENTS:• Many detergents are resistant to the action of biological

agents and thus are not biodegradable. Their elimination from municipal wastewaters by the usual treatments is a problem.

• They have a tendency to produce stable foams in rivers that extend over several hundred meters of the river water. This is due to the effects of surfactants used in their preparation. Thus they pose a danger to aquatic life.

• They tend to inhibit oxidation of organic substances present in wastewaters because they form a sort of envelope around them.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOAPS AND DETERGENTS:

SOAPS:

They are metal salts of long chain higher fatty acids.

These are prepared from vegetable oils and animal fats.

They cannot be used effectively in hard water as they produce scum i.e., insoluble precipitates of Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+ etc.

DETERGENTS:

These are sodium salts of long chain hydrocarbons like alkyl sulphates or alkyl benzene sulphonates.

They are prepared from hydrocarbons of petroleum or coal.

These do not produce insoluble precipitates in hard water. They are effective in soft, hard or salt water.